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Sunday, April 09, 2000 By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
NAZARETH, Pa. -- It didn't take Juan Montoya long to find his way back to the front.
After blowing one of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's new Toyota engines while leading the season-opener in Miami two weeks ago, Montoya took the pole for today's Bosch Spark Plugs Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway. Montoya won the pole with a lap of 19.255 at 176.868 mph around the 1-mile oval yesterday, giving Toyota its second pole since it joined the Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1996. Montoya, who won the pole last season with a Honda, joins Team Green's Paul Tracy as the only drivers to win back-to-back poles at Nazareth.
"The car was awesome," said Montoya, who won seven races -- three from the pole -- as a rookie in 1999 en route to Ganassi Racing's fourth consecutive series championship. "The conditions were pretty windy, but it really didn't bother me because Toyota has been quick all weekend."
The weather will be key today. While it was cold and rainy yesterday in Pittsburgh, qualifying conditions in Nazareth were windy with clear skies and temperatures reaching the upper 70s. But that is expected to change today -- rain and snow are in the forecast.
"I think [today] will be really interesting if the weather changes," Montoya said. "We did some testing here and I think it really gave us an advantage since we knew where to go with the car right off."
If conditions do get worse, the race will be postponed until tomorrow.
The other half of Ganassi Racing wasn't as fortunate. Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 CART champion who finished fourth at Miami, was quick, but his car failed in Turn 3. He was carrying enough speed to cross the finish line in 19.558 or 174.128 mph for the 11th starting position in today's race.
"I'm happy to be where I am because as I came through Turn 3 on my first qualifying lap something let go in the car," Vasser said. "I don't know what the failure was, but I'm happy I got the lap and time that I did. The car was really fast and set up great.
"The one thing at Nazareth is traffic," Vasser added. "It's tough to get around so it will be an interesting race."
For Ganassi, a Fox Chapel native, Montoya's pole position is a huge step. Aside from switching power plants during the off-season, Ganassi also opted for a new Lola chassis over the proven Reynard.
"It's nice to have the small victory to reinforce the decisions we made for our chassis and engine manufacturers," Ganassi said.
Christian Fittipaldi qualified second in a Ford/Lola followed by Helio Castro-Neves, Paul Tracy and Gil de Ferran in Honda/Reynards. The difference between Montoya's pole-winning time and Michel Jourdain Jr.'s 21st-place qualifying time was less than a second.
Around the circuits
At Nashville Speedway yesterday, Randy LaJoie won the NASCAR Busch Series BellSouth Mobility 320 by about one-tenth of a second over Mike McLaughlin. After competing at the same track as the Winston Cup series each weekend this season, the Busch Series made its first solo appearance of 2000.
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Rain at Martinsville also caused the cancellation of the Winston Cup "Happy Hour" final practice session for the Goody's Body Pain 500 today. The drivers with the top 36 times from Friday's qualifying session, including pole-winner Rusty Wallace, made the field with Tony Stewart, Chad Little, Kevin Lepage, Jimmy Spencer, Elliott Sadler, Robby Gordon and Gary Bradberry using provisionals based on owners' points to make the field. Wally Dallenbach, Rick Mast, Dave Marcis and Ed Berrier missed the cut.